Backbone
by Ray by Another Name
Summary: Ben and Denny wanted to spend New Year's together, but after being shot down they come up with some interesting ways of getting their way. Ben/Denny with mentions of Hal/Rita, Tom/Rebecca. 3rd Person POV. Set in the AU of Strange Brew in Season 3. Rating goes from K to M, increases with later chapters.
1. Chapter 1

Ben struggles with asking his dad for permission to go to New York with his girlfriend. Ben/Denny. 3rd Person POV. Set in the AU of Strange Brew in Season 3.

Disclaimer: I do not own Falling Skies.

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Chapter 1

"So," Denny's lips were pursed as Ben slammed the passenger door of her jeep shut, "You talk to your parents yet?"

Ben cleared his throat, fidgeting as he buckled himself in, "Not quite."

She groaned, hitting her head against the seat in frustration, "Not a lot of time left, Benji." Ben nodded his absent agreement as she drove away from his house. "You still want to do this, right?" she said.

He looked over at her, "Of course, it's just," he paused.

"Just what?" she grinned over at him as they hit a red light, "Not afraid are we?"

Ben narrowed his eyes before biting back, "Of course not." She raised her eyebrows expectantly until the light turned green. Ben remained quiet until they were nearly to school.

"My brother's going away for New Year's," Ben said, sighing as he looked over at the other teen, "I don't think they'd appreciate me wanting to leave too."

Denny rolled her eyes, "Right." She parked the car in her assigned spot and turned in her seat, "You're afraid to ask your parents if you can come with me to New York."

"Can you just try to look at it from my perspective?" Ben said, groaning as he took of his glasses to squeeze the bridge of his nose.

"I am," Denny said haughtily, "You don't want to ask because you don't want to be compared to your brother." Ben opened and closed his mouth, trying to think of a response, "Yeah, that's what I thought."

Denny grabbed her backpack from the backseat and pushed open her door. Ben called her name as he followed suit, but she ignored him. He ran after her as she walked quickly from the car, pressing the button on her keys to lock it.

He caught up to her in the hallway by their lockers and he grabbed her wrist and pulled her to the side. Few people spared them a glance as Denny pushed him away, into the row of lockers behind them.

"You have a real complex about this," she said, disappointment flaring in her eyes, "So get over it." Ben was left standing there as she walked off. He banged his head against the lockers and wished – not for the first time – that he was better at handling these situations.

His dad and Hal always seemed so much better at talking and dealing with women. Every other week he managed to piss Denny off one way or another. Not that she stayed mad long, she was too laid back for that, but he hated it all the same.

Denny didn't speak to him in any of their four classes together and they just read their books during lunch. He 'd look up every few paragraphs, to see if he could catch her eye, but if Denny was anything it was stubborn.

Her eyes stayed glue to the pages of a Bronte novel. Earbuds blasting Groove Coverage so loud Ben could hear them on the other side of the table. Great lengths had been gone to in order to ignore him. He sighed, resigning himself to her anger for a while.

When she dropped him off at his house after school the place was empty. His mom was at Hal's game, per usual, and his dad was probably grading papers in his office at the university. Biting his lip as he ascended the stairs to his room, Ben stopped in front of Hal's door.

It stood ajar and athletic gear littered the floor. He knew for a fact his mom had asked him to clean it a few days ago. She'd asked Ben the same thing. The difference was that Ben's floor was spotless except for a few stacks of library books he was working through.

Making a quick decision Ben ran out of the house. Two bus stops and a few hallways later he was standing in front of his dad's office door. The secretary for the history department, Jeane, smiled at him. He attempted a nervous one back before taking a deep breath and knocking.

"Come on in," his dad's voice called through the door and Ben did just that. He stood awkwardly in front of Tom Mason as he finished marking up one last paper. He looked up at Ben curiously, "What are you doing here?"

"I needed to talk to you about something," Ben bit his lip again, trying not to over think this. His dad quirked an eyebrow, "Denny and I were – Well, you see, she's –"

"You and Denny are what?" Tom's eyes scrunched together, "Are you two in trouble?" Then his eyes went wide, "She's not pregnant is she?"

Ben sputtered out a negative before rushing through his words, "We're not – We want to go to New York for New Year's."

"What?" Tom leaned back in his chair, taking in the blush creeping up his son's neck and the determination in his eyes as he met Tom's own.

"Her dad's going for some kind of business thing, and he said I could come along if Denny and I wanted to go to Times Square or something," Ben said, slower this time and raising a slow eyebrow, "Can I go?"

It was amusing to see his own expressions on his son's face, although he knew Ben would hate to hear that. Tom rubbed his beard, "I'll talk with your mom first, but I'm not sure I'm comfortable with you and Denny going away together like that."

"Her dad'll be there," Ben said, "Besides, you're letting Hal go with Rita alone."

"Hal's over eighteen Ben, you're not," Tom pointed out, "There's quite a big difference between 17 and 20."

Ben rolled his eyes, annoyance consuming his nerves, "No, there's a difference between Hal's 17 and my 17."

"Ben –" Tom warned, standing up to walk around his desk.

"It's true, he broke curfew all the time and you still let him go to the out-of-town meets and make-out with Rita in his car," Ben ranted, "And it's not like Denny and I ever do anything, half-the-time we just read. In plain view!"

"Ben!" Tom raised his voice and Ben quieted, looking at his feet. His jaw was set and Tom could tell he was upset, "I'll talk with your mother about it and we'll let you know."

"Fine," Ben bit out, storming out of the room. Jeane popped her head in with a curious look and Tom shook his head before plopping back into his chair. He hated when Ben had a point, he couldn't even remember the last time his middle son had broken a rule. He even returned all his library books on time.

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	2. Chapter 2

Ben struggles with asking his dad for permission to go to New York with his girlfriend. Ben/Denny. 3rd Person POV. Set in the AU of Strange Brew in Season 3.

Disclaimer: I do not own Falling Skies.

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Chapter 2

Denny turned around as Ben made his way across the room, her face and neck spotted with dried paint and her glasses sitting beside her wet brushes. "So?" she said as Ben fell back into her bed. He closed his eyes and ignored the looming figure of his girlfriend before he spoke.

"He'll talk to my mom, but he's not comfortable with us going alone." He felt her legs straddle him on the bed and opened his eyes with a smile.

Denny laughed, "He's smart not to consider my dad a proper chaperon."

"True," Ben agreed, dragging his hand up one of her legs, "but it's still annoying."

"Oh?" Denny said, "Why's that?"

The grin decorating her face told him she knew why, "because Hal was a lot wilder at my age and he got to go away with friends and make out with Rita till like 2am." Ben narrowed his eyes as he thought about it.

Denny leaned down to kiss him lightly, "I doubt your parents would have let him spend a weekend with her."

Ben slid his hand higher until his fingers were curled into her hair. She brought her hands up to his face and pulled his glasses off to set them over to the side.

"True," Ben murmured against her lips, "But I'm not Hal. I've never had sex with you on the couch." Denny kissed him again, sliding her tongue over his lips until they parted.

"We could fix that," she bit her lips as she drew up a little bit. Ben arched an eyebrow and Denny pursed her lips to keep from laughing.

Ben pulled her back down to kiss her again, their mouths molding together in practiced rhythm. Her hands pushed up at his shirt till her fingers were gliding against the smooth skin of his stomach. He kept one of his hands threaded in her curls, pressing her closer to him as his other hand moved over south. Fingers dipping into her black jeans to draw circles over the base of her spine.

She broke their kiss, breathless as she asked "is this going to be one of those stubborn rebellious things they always have in crappy teen dramas?"

He grinned, "What do you think?" Denny eyed him as she moved her mouth to his neck, kissing and suckling up to his jawline. Ben swallowed hard, his mouth dry as he stuttered through, "I should bug Jimmy, he's an expert at the rebellious phase."

Denny moved her fingers between their connected pelvises, "I won't argue with anything that benefits me and/or our trip."

Ben got out a mangled laugh as he threw his head back, her fingers tantalizing with just fabric between them. Denny smirked triumphantly to herself as she grasped his erection through his jeans.

"You are an evil, evil woman," Ben said as his hands moved up and down her sides beneath her shirt. He quite enjoyed her habit of taking off her bra when she painted.

"Do you want me to stop?" Denny asked against his neck as she pressed her lips feather-like in a trail up his adam's apple.

Ben tried to scoff, "About as much as you do." Denny smiled as Ben moved his head to look her in the eye again. He kissed her, drawing her tongue from her mouth with ease and exchanging it with his own.

"Hey," Rebecca greeted her husband as he walked in the kitchen door, "Hal won his game, scored three goals." Tom smiled as he set his bag on the table.

"That's great." Tom gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before moving to the sink to wash his hands, "The boys here?"

"No," she said, not looking up from the cutting board full of vegetables, "Hal's with Rita, Matt went to Cody's house, and I haven't seen Ben yet."

"Not surprised," Tom sighed as he pulled the second cutting board from beneath the sink, "he came to see me after school today."

"Ben?" Rebecca looked over at him as he set himself up next to her, "why?"

"He wants to spend New Years' Eve with Denny in New York."

Rebecca raised an eyebrow as she handed him a tomato, "Ben? Are you serious?"

"Yeah," he said as he began to dice the red fruit as Rebecca had to its two compatriots, "I said we'd talk about it, but I wasn't comfortable with the idea."

"Of course not, he's only 17," she scoffed and with a decisive swing of her knife she added, "And I don't plan on being a grandmother before Matt finishes high school."

Tom chuckled, grabbing a skinned cucumber next, "Let's not get carried away, it is Ben after all. Not Hal."

"Seventeen is seventeen," Rebecca eyed him sideways, thinking of the time they caught Hal on the couch with a blond the time Rita broke up with him, "And seventeen year old boys like sex."

"Ben and Denny have been dating for almost a year, and they were friends before." Tom reasoned, unsure what he was trying to convince her off, "And he blushes if she so much as holds his hands when we're around."

"That's Ben, not Denny," Rebecca turned around, heading for the fridge. Tom turned as well, looking at the back of her head as she spoke, "And no one will be watching in New York."

Tom shifted back and forth, "I suppose her dad would technically be watching."

She outright snorted as she turned back around with a head of lettuce in her hand, "That man watches his daughter about as much as you do Hal's games."

Tom leveled his eyes on her, his lips forming a straight line, "If they wanted to have sex they have more than enough opportunity to do it here in Boston, they don't need to go to New York for that."

Rebecca moved to the sink, her back to him again, "I just don't like it. Maybe next year, when he's a little older and we know Denny a little better."

He let himself lean against the counter, cutting board ignored, "He won't need our permission next year. He'll be eighteen."

Her hands stopped pulling layers off of the lettuce under the water. Ben's age seemed to just slip her mind sometimes. It was easy to think of him as the nervous ten year old with new glasses all the time. He wasn't like Hal, constantly showing them how much he wasn't a child anymore with over-the-top displays of affection.

"Let me think about it for a while," Rebecca said, her hands beginning to move again, "Can you pick up Matt? It's nearly six." Tom grabbed his keys and headed out the door, unsure when exactly he'd switched sides on the whole Ben debate.

When Tom came back Hal was sitting on the floor of the living room in front of the coffee table, grumbling about Rita being unreasonable and working on some essay for his English class. Matt took up immediate residency on the couch, an anime on before Tom could pass the stairs and enter the kitchen.

"Ben back yet?" he asked as he watched Rebecca toss the salad, shredded chicken hiding beneath layers of greens. She shook her head, eyes focused on the counter in front of her.

"Maybe we could make it conditional?" Rebecca thought aloud as Tom leaned over the counter next to her.

Tom scratched at his neck, "Maybe." He heard the front door open.

"Nice hickey there, Benny," Hal's teasing carried through the hallway.

"We can talk about it later," Tom pushed up from the counter. Rebecca nodded as he went to break up the fight they knew would be starting.

The boys managed to get through an entire dinner with only a few rude remarks to each other. Tom always marveled at the new and inventive ways his sons found to mock one another. Matt, at least, found it entertaining.

After dinner the boys all went their separate ways, to bedrooms and computers. Once Hal had left to go make nice with Rita, Tom knocked on Ben's open door. His middle son lay on his stomach on the bed, leaning on his elbows with a book propped up in his hands.

"Got a minute?" Tom spoke when Ben raised his eyes, the boy nodded, "Nice bruise you got there." Ben blushed and his hand instinctively went to rub at his neck where the darkening mark resided.

"It wasn't –…We were…" Ben stuttered over a few words before Tom held up his hand.

Tom smiled, "I'm just teasing. I thought I'd let you know your mom and I are stilling talking about the whole New York thing."

"Oh."

"Yeah." Tom watched his son's eyes turn calculating and thoughtful.

Ben wasn't necessarily the most talkative of people, preferring his books to most social events, but his eyes spoke volumes. Especially when he was thinking.

That was half his motivation for standing in the doorway. He hadn't thought to look at Ben's eyes that afternoon in his office, but he wanted to see them. There was a spark of rebellion that he usually saw in Matt, some stubbornness all the boys had inherited from him, and desire.

Desire for what he wasn't sure. It wasn't the same look he had when he looked at Denny or the one he got when he found an original copy of his favorite novel. But it was clearly desire, a want of some kind that Tom couldn't figure out.

Rebecca plopped on the bed beside her husband and he slowly set down the paper he was grading. She turned to him, "I'm still leaning towards no."

Tom chuckled, knowing exactly what she had changed the topic to, "I'm not a huge supporter of it either."

"So why are we still discussing it?" Rebecca sighed, leaning her head against the headboard.

"Because we said we would," Tom said, leaning forward a bit, "And neither of us are fully convinced either way. We owe it to Ben to be absolutely sure in our decision."

She laughed, "Or he'll talk us out of it, just like you would." Tom smiled and leaned over to kiss her.

"Exactly."

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	3. Chapter 3

Ben struggles with asking his dad for permission to go to New York with his girlfriend. Ben/Denny. 3rd Person POV. Set in the AU of Strange Brew in Season 3.

Disclaimer: I do not own Falling Skies.

* * *

Chapter 3

"It says so much about you," Jimmy looked at the pile of books in Ben's arms, "that you went to the library to learn how to rebel."

"Research is always useful," Ben shrugged, unphased by Jimmy's scoff. The younger boy waved his best friend into the monstrosity of money his parents called a house.

Ben always felt out of place in the Boland house, despite making the same as his own parents Jimmy's parents decorated with expensive furniture and paintings that looked as if they belong in a museum.

"The Batcave awaits," Ben muttered under his breath as they walked up the stairs to Jimmy's room. It's dark, with deep red curtains drawn around the windows and light emanating only from the computer on Jimmy's desk.

Jimmy plopped into his chair as Ben set the books on the unmade bed, "Why are you doing this anyway?"

Ben smiled, "Call it middle child syndrome."

"That was in the books wasn't it?" Jimmy shook his head, "Dweeb."

"Says the guy that spends 80 percent of his time on WoW."

"75," Jimmy corrected, "And I am also the guy that's going to help you get to New York, so pay attention."

Twenty minutes later Ben is pretty sure he never wants to know how Jimmy got his new Xbox. His parents would likely send him to an asylum or, worse, his grandparents if he did half the stuff Jimmy was suggesting.

"Isn't there a way to do this without law-breaking?" Ben asked with a nervous shake to his voice.

Jimmy rolled his eyes, "Pansy." Ben narrowed his eyes on his best friend, "Fine, we'll do this your _boring_ way. What does Hal do?"

"What do you mean?" Ben leaned back against the footboard and looked up at Jimmy from the ground, "Hal just asks."

"How can someone so smart be so dense?" Jimmy shook his head, "He acts like he's going to get what he wants. He does things to remind your parents that he's an adult."

"Like having sex on the couch?" Ben deadpanned, a disbelieving look in his eyes.

"Actually, yes," Jimmy nodded, "But you probably shouldn't do that if you ever want your parents to like Denny." This time Ben was the one rolling his eyes, "You act the same way around your parents as you did when you were a kid. You don't even hold Denny's hand in the living room."

"Oh," Ben blushed, "It's just awkward."

"Well, you want your parents to permit New York or not?"

Ben banged his head against the footboard, "Why is this so difficult?"

"It's not, you're just too nice." At that Jimmy swung around to face his computer, WoW open before Ben could say another word.

"Maybe we could have Denny over for dinner?" Tom thought aloud as his wife dressed beside him, "Get to know her."

"That would be nice," Rebecca said as she finished buttoning her jeans.

Tom tied his shoe, sitting on the bed, "You said you were mostly worried because you didn't trust her."

"He doesn't bring her by much," Rebecca said, sitting next to him, "Why do you think that is?"

Tom laughed, "He doesn't want to open her up as a target to Hal's teasing."

Rebecca scoffed, "Hal is not that bad."

Tom raised an eyebrow, "When it comes to his little brother, Hal is merciless."

"Fine," Rebecca rolled her eyes, "But you're right, we don't know her and I certainly don't trust her."

"So we get to know her," Tom reasoned, "Even if we don't let him go to New York, I get the impression she'll be around for a long while." Rebecca didn't say anything to that, just sat on the bed. Tom placed an arm around her, "He has to grow up, we can't control that."

"Doesn't mean I have to like it," Rebecca muttered as she leaned into his chest.

Tom chuckled in a light voice, "Matt's only thirteen, you've got a few more years with him."

Rebecca slapped his arm, sarcastic as she spoke, "Thanks for the reminder."

Ben sat on the couch beside Matt, consumed in the game screen and chat windows of his laptop. When Hal walked in he flicked Ben on the ear, but Matt dodged his fingers.

"How's Rita?" Matt smirked at his oldest brother, "Figure out where you're spending New Years yet?" Hal grumbled as he sat in the armchair.

The brothers sat in relative silence as Matt jabbed his controller left and right, shooting at the alien invaders on his screen. Hal watched with a bored interest, half of his mind on his phone as he texted with his girlfriend.

"Ben," Tom's voice broke the silence and all three looked up, "do you think Denny would like to come to dinner sometime this week?"

Ben looked confused, "I can ask." He looked back at his screen, fingers moving across the keyboard in quick strokes, "She says sure."

"What are you doing?" Hal questioned as he leaned over the arm of the couch to glance at his brother's screen.

"We're preparing for a raid with some guys from Cal-Sci," Ben said without looking up.

Hal opened his mouth to mock, but stopped at a warning look from his father. Matt, however, had no such limitation, "Do you guys ever do anything normal as a couple?"

Ben looked over at his little brother with narrowed eyes, "This is our normal."

"Whatever," Matt said as he focused his attention back on his game." The boys fall back into their silence quickly and Tom backs up slowly, not wanting to disrupt the beautiful silence that had graced the house.

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